Just Doing His Job
by malic124
Summary: Nat and Alex are trapped home on a snow day. When Alex comes down with a cold, Nat steps up to the plate and demonstrates his role as the older brother.


Author's Note: Taking place during the Winter of 2007, Nat and Alex are trapped at home due to a blizzard occurring in New York. The night before the blizzard strikes, Nat and Alex sit at home watching the Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night"

Nat and Alex Wolff sat in front of the TV together enjoying "A Hard Day's Night" which was showing on ABC Family. Suddenly, the show is interrupted with a news broadcast.

"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important message: The entire state of New York will be hit by a blizzard, causing up to 2 feet in snow overnight. Roads will be covered in ice and will make driving conditions hazardous. All schools in the Manhattan area will have no school tomorrow. More updates to come," said the anchor reporting.

Nat and Alex let out shouts of glee, they would have no school tomorrow. The rest of the movie played with a few interruptions here and there, with announcements of more school cancellations. Finally, the movie ended. Nat waited for a moment, expecting Alex to turn off the TV since the remote was right next to him. Instead, he looked over and saw Alex laid down beside him, asleep.

Nat smiled and turned the TV off. He went into their shared room and grabbed a pillow and blanket from Alex's bed. He walked back to the living room and gently lifted Alex's head. He placed the pillow below Alex's head and laid him back down; then he took the blanket and spread it over Alex.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Nat answered it and spoke to his Dad, who had called from work.

"Nat, the road conditions will become bad overnight so I'm gonna stay at a hotel near here for the night. Will you and Alex be okay?"

"Yeah, Dad," Nat replied. "Alex is asleep already and I was just getting ready to crash."

"Alright. Well have a good night. I might see you tomorrow if the blizzard conditions aren't too terrible."

"Night Dad," Nat said and hung up. He walked back to his and Alex's room and changed into his sleep clothes. Nat then got into bed and fell asleep, planning on sleeping in the next morning since he had no school.

* * *

The following morning, Nat woke up around 9. He went out into the living room and found Alex still lying down on the couch watching TV. When he saw Alex up close, he did a double take.

"Alex, are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"No," Alex replied in a raspy voice. "I feel pretty sick. I'm stuffed up, have a congestion headache, and my throat hurts."

"Oh no," Nat said with genuine concern. "Do you have a fever?"

"I think so. I haven't taken my temperature yet, I feel that if I move, I might throw up."

Nat ran into the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer. He went back to Alex and put it in Alex's mouth. After a few moments, it beeped and Nat took it back. He read it and it said Alex had a temperature of 101 degrees.

"Yeah, you've got a temperature," Nat said. "I'll go get a warm washcloth for you. Do you want some tea or anything?"

"Sure, thanks man."

"No problem."

Nat went to the kitchen and started boiling some water on a pot. While the water boiled, he grabbed a washcloth and wet it with warm water. He walked back to Alex and laid the washcloth on Alex's forehead.

"Oh, much better," Alex said. "Thanks Nat."

Nat went back to the kitchen. He grabbed some green tea from the cabinet and mixed it into the boiling water. After stirring it up, he put some tea in a cup and brought it to Alex. Alex waited a few minutes before drinking some of it.

"Delicious!" he exclaimed. "It's really helping to start clearing my sinuses. Thanks Nat."

"Ah, it's nothing. I'll make you some soup later, around lunchtime. Meanwhile, I think it would be good if you had another blanket," Nat replied. He went back to their room and grabbed the other blanket off of Alex's bed and grabbed one for himself off his bed. Back in the living room, he put one blanket on top of Alex's other and sat the other in the recliner for himself.

For the next few hours, Nat sat with Alex, never leaving the living room and letting Alex watch what ever he wanted, not caring if he didn't like most of the shows. Around noon, he went back to the kitchen and started making some soup for Alex.

"Hey Alex, what kind of soup you want?" he asked.

"Chicken noodle would be awesome."

Nat made some soup for both him and Alex. When he finished making the soup, he brought over a bowl for Alex and sat it on the table. He then helped Alex sit up and then went and got his soup. He sat down next to Alex and the two ate, Alex mostly drank, their soup. When they were down, Nat brought the bowls back to the kitchen and put them into the dishwasher. He went back to Alex, who had already layback down and sat down on the small part of the couch that wasn't occupied by his brother.

All afternoon, they sat on the couch watching TV and movies. By nightfall, the blizzard outside showed no signs of lifting up and a news broadcast revealed they would have another snow day the following day. After the announcement, Alex spoke for the first time in hours.

"Nat, I'm sorry I didn't make your snow day much fun," he apologized. "I really appreciate you helping me out today."

"Alex, it's no problem. You're sick and I'm here to help you feel better. I'll go make you some more tea then I'll heat you up a TV dinner. Can you stomach it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Alex said. "Thanks again for doing everything today."

"No problem." Nat replied. He grabbed two TV dinners out of the freezer and popped them into the oven. While the dinners cooked, he made some more green tea for Alex and himself. When everything was ready, he brought it all to the couch and set everything on the table. He helped Alex up again and the two ate their dinner. When finished, he put all the dishes in the dishwasher then went to the bathroom and grabbed some medicine and the thermometer.

He gave the medicine to Alex and took his temperature again. Alex's temperature had gone down to 99 degrees, which meant that he was getting better. After taking his temperature, he asked Alex how he felt.

"About a million times better than I did this morning, thanks to you. Still a little congested, but the headache is gone and the sore throat is mostly gone. Should be all gone tomorrow," Alex replied.

"That's good."

"So Nat, why did you do all of this? Just because Dad wasn't here or what?"

"I'm just doing my job Alex," Nat replied. "I'm your brother and it's my job to take care of you. This morning when I saw you temperature, a voice in my head said 'Okay, you have to make Alex feel better. Ready, set, Go!'"

Alex laughed. "Well, you certainly did your job. Thanks again for taking care of me, Nat." He sat up and gave Nat a one-armed hug. Nat returned the hug, then flipped the channel to something else that they both liked. For the rest of the night, they watched more movies on TV before Alex fell asleep again. Nat stayed up and watched some more TV with the volume low. When he began getting tired, Nat turned the TV off. He patted Alex on the head and fell asleep in the recliner right next to Alex.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Nat woke up to Alex shivering loudly. He smiled and grabbed his blanket and threw it on Alex. He then went to their room and grabbed a pillow for himself. Nat awkwardly lay down on the couch with the little space he had, since Alex had taken up most of it. Almost as if on cue, Alex curled up a little bit, giving Nat some extra room. Nat then covered himself with some of his blanket and drifted off to sleep, hoping Alex would soon feel better so they could both enjoy their time away from school in this blizzard…


End file.
